Villiers, the son of a Leicestershire gentleman, appeared in Court. The king was at once taken with his beauty, and made him his cupbearer. In a few weeks the young man was knighted, and his promotion did not stop there for he was made 11 successively a baron, a viscount, an earl, a marquis. He was appointed to several very important posts, and entirely disposed of all the king's 12 bounties. No office and no honour was to be got except through him, and often the only qualification of the people he favoured was their connexion with him. He thus "equally offended the ancient nobility and the people of all conditions, who saw the flowers of the crown every day fading and withered." "'* Nobles and people might be offended, but James continued to bestow marks of his love on the man whom he delighted to honour. In the end he raised him to be Duke of Buckingham. The death of James did not interrupt the good fortune of the favourite, for he found the son as fond a master as the father had been. When Charles asked his first parliament for supplies to carry on the war with Spain the Commons, believing that the money would not be wisely spent while Buckingham was the leading spirit in the government, only voted a small sum. The king therefore ordered a 13 dissolution. 4 8 1 Inherit, to receive by birth. 2 political, belonging to the government. 3 theory, doctrine, opinion. Episcopalian, one who believes in the government of a church by bishops, as the Church of England is governed. 5 intelligent, having a good understanding. 6 literature, books, 7 gracious, kindly. domestic, home, family. 9 disaster, mishap. 10 dispatch (or despatch) to send. 11 successively, one after the other. 12 bounty, favour. 13 dissolution, a breaking up of parliament. There must be a new election before there is another parliament. * Clarendon. KING AND COMMONS. CHARLES I. determined to carry on the war with Spain although parliament had not given him the necessary money. After scraping together every shilling he could, he sent an expedition against Cadiz. The result is recorded in the nursery rhyme, There was a fleet that went to Spain; When it got there it came back again! The king, knowing the warlike spirit of the nation, believed parliament would be dazzled by a brilliant victory, and would readily grant supplies. Now he had to meet the members after a great failure. The Commons, thinking misgovernment and disaster would continue as long as Buckingham was in power, 1impeached him, and parliament was again dissolved to save him. Charles was now more than ever in want of money, and as he could not obtain it in the lawful way, he tried to obtain it in various unlawful ways. Then, as if his difficulties were not already great enough, he went to war with France. The French king, who was at war with his Protestant subjects, was besieging 2 La Rochelle. Buckingham was sent to relieve the city. He landed on the island of 3 Rhé, attempted to take a fort built thereon, failed miserably, and then returned with less than half his original force. This failure did not check Charles's eagerness for the war, and as he could raise no more money unlawfully, he called another parliament. He had been in the habit of making taxes on his own authority alone, and often required people to "lend him sums which he never returned. Such as refused to pay were punished; some were sent to prison, some were forced to enter the army or navy, and some had soldiers or sailors 4 billeted on them. Those who were sent to prison were committed without any charge being brought against them; hence the judges could not try them, and they remained in jail till the king was pleased to set them free. Charles's third parliament presented him with the Petition of Right, naming all the 5 illegal practices of which he had been guilty, and praying him to promise that henceforth he would keep the laws. After a good deal of shuffling he gave the required promise; how he kept it will be seen. The Commons were delighted that the king had 6 assented to the petition, and readily granted him a considerable sum of money. With this he fitted out a new expedition for the relief of La Rochelle. In the previous expedition John Felton had served as lieutenant. His captain having been killed he expected to be made captain in his place, but being disappointed he quitted the army. He thus had a grudge against Buckingham, the general. Hearing that the House of Commons regarded the favourite as "the cause of all the evils the kingdom suffered, and an enemy to the public," Felton thought he would be doing God service if he killed the duke. He therefore went down to Portsmouth (whence the forces were about to set sail) and stabbed him to the heart. The duke was murdered in August; next January Charles's third parliament met again. The attention of the House of Commons was first directed to the question of tonnage and poundage. These were certain duties on imported and exported goods. It had for a long time been the custom to give each sovereign at the beginning of his reign authority to raise them as long as he lived. The custom was not followed in the case of Charles, but he levied the duties as if it had been. This was one cause of dispute between king and parliament. Another cause was the desire of Charles to make the services of the English Church more like those of the Roman Catholic Church, and the favour which he showed those clergyman who were opposed to Puritanism, and supported the "divine right." On March 2nd, in the House of Commons, Sir John Eliot, a noble-minded man who was its leading spirit, moved that whoever taught doctrines contrary to those of the Puritans, whoever advised the levy of tonnage and poundage without a grant from parliament, and whoever paid those duties, was an enemy to his country and a traitor to its liberties. The Speaker refused to 9 put the resolution, and was about to leave the House when Denzil Holles and Benjamin Valentine seized him, set him down in his chair, and held him there by main force. In the midst of a stormy debate a messenger from the king arrived and whispered to the 10 sergeant-at-arms. The sergeant thereupon laid his hands upon the mace, "which, being taken from the table, there can be no further proceedings." Instantly the door was locked. Time was precious, and the Speaker was commanded to put the resolutions. He refused, and Holles read them out. Meanwhile the 11 gentleman usher of the black rod was hammering at the door. He had come to summon the members to the House of Lords to hear parliament dissolved, but no heed was paid to his knocking. As the members shouted assent to Eliot's resolutions the door was thrown back. Without stood the king's guards who had been sent to break it open. 1 Impeach, to accuse before the House of Lords. 2 La Rochelle, a town on the west coast of France, north of the Gironde. * Phê, an island off La Rochelle. 4 billet, to quarter soldiers in private houses. 6 5 illegal, unlawful. assent, to agree to. 7 levy, to raise. 8 the Speaker, the chairman of the House of Commons. He receives his name because it is his duty to speak for the House. 9 put, to ask how many were for and how many against. sergeant-at-arms, an officer of the House of Commons. gentleman usher of the black rod, an officer of the House of Lords. 10 11 GOVERNMENT WITHOUT PARLIAMENT. CHARLES having dissolved a parliament that wanted to give him advice which he did not desire before it gave him money which he did, resolved to punish the leading members of the House of Commons. A number of them were imprisoned, but only three were brought to trial. These were Sir John Eliot, Holles, and Valentine. They pleaded that parliament alone had a right to try them for their conduct in parliament. Such a plea would be considered sufficient in the present day, but the judges, anxious to please Charles, refused to accept it. The three members were condemned to pay heavy fines and to be confined during the king's pleasure. Holles and Valentine were at length set free, but the brave Eliot died in the Tower. Even then the king's vengeance was not satisfied; he refused to let the 1 patriot's children have his body for burial. "Let him be buried," said he, "in the church of that parish where he died;" and so he was buried in the Tower. After the dissolution of his third parliament Charles issued a proclamation stating that he would "count it 2 presumption for any to 3 prescribe a time to him. for parliament," and that he would be more inclined to meet parliament when his people should see more clearly into his intents and actions." The people must 66 |
